There also is sentiment to fold in 32 postseason slots from the NCAA-run National Invitation Tournament, placing those teams and their players into the game's marquee event rather than a consolation tournament.

Treasury officials say that one of the two slots is required to be filled by a Republican and that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell tapped Blahous, an assertion McConnell guy Don Stewart confirms.

Unless the number of training slots is significantly increased — and there are no plans for such an increase — the number of doctors being trained in the U.S. will remain fixed where it has been for more than two decades.